Patrick McMorris leads Santa Ana football past Temecula Valley

Santa Ana’s Zennen Flores (35) makes the tackle on Temecula Valley’s Dylan Johns (33) during the quarterfinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 8 football playoff game at Temecula Valley High School in Temecula Friday, November 9, 2018. Photo by FRANK BELLINO, Contributing Photographer.

Temecula Valley’s Dylan Sigman (10) makes the catch against Santa Ana’s Daniel Avalos (23) during the quarterfinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 8 football playoff game at Temecula Valley High School in Temecula Friday, November 9, 2018. Photo by FRANK BELLINO, Contributing Photographer.

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Temecula Valley’s Brody Hughes (21) can’t make the tackle on Santa Ana’s Patrick Mcmorris (2) during the quarterfinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 8 football playoff game at Temecula Valley High School in Temecula Friday, November 9, 2018. Photo by FRANK BELLINO, Contributing Photographer.

Santa Ana’s Julian Gomez (14) gets free against Temecula Valley during the quarterfinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 8 football playoff game at Temecula Valley High School in Temecula Friday, November 9, 2018. Photo by FRANK BELLINO, Contributing Photographer.

Temecula Valley’s Easton Gibbs (2) looks for the open man against Santa Ana during the quarterfinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 8 football playoff game at Temecula Valley High School in Temecula Friday, November 9, 2018. Photo by FRANK BELLINO, Contributing Photographer.

Santa Ana’s Julian Gomez (14) looks for the open man against Temecula Valley during the quarterfinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 8 football playoff game at Temecula Valley High School in Temecula Friday, November 9, 2018. Photo by FRANK BELLINO, Contributing Photographer.

Santa Ana’s Bryan Guevara (9) makes the tackle on Temecula Valley’s Troy Jefferies (88) during the quarterfinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 8 football playoff game at Temecula Valley High School in Temecula Friday, November 9, 2018. Photo by FRANK BELLINO, Contributing Photographer.

Temecula Valley’s Dylan Johns (33) gets free for the first down against Santa Ana during the quarterfinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 8 football playoff game at Temecula Valley High School in Temecula Friday, November 9, 2018. Photo by FRANK BELLINO, Contributing Photographer.

Temecula Valley’s Anson Pulsipher (32) makes the tackle on Santa Ana’s Patrick Mcmorris (2) during the quarterfinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 8 football playoff game at Temecula Valley High School in Temecula Friday, November 9, 2018. Photo by FRANK BELLINO, Contributing Photographer.

Temecula Valley’s Troy Jefferies (88) makes the first down catch against Santa Ana during the quarterfinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 8 football playoff game at Temecula Valley High School in Temecula Friday, November 9, 2018. Photo by FRANK BELLINO, Contributing Photographer.

Temecula Valley’s Dylan Sigman (10) makes the tackle on Santa Ana’s Patrick Mcmorris (2) during the quarterfinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 8 football playoff game at Temecula Valley High School in Temecula Friday, November 9, 2018. Photo by FRANK BELLINO, Contributing Photographer.

Temecula Valley’s Easton Gibbs (2) dives in for the touchdown against Santa Ana during the quarterfinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 8 football playoff game at Temecula Valley High School in Temecula Friday, November 9, 2018. Photo by FRANK BELLINO, Contributing Photographer.

Then, it was the turn of Temecula Valley coach Bert Esposito — who spent the 2018 season resurrecting the Golden Bears program — who couldn’t find the words to describe what he just saw.

There was the 275 yards and two touchdowns from McMorris, who scored them in a 2:16 span late in the third quarter. There was Temecula Valley’s answered Hail Mary, via Easton Gibbs’ 35-yard touchdown pass to Anson Pulsipher with no time remaining. And there was the final dagger from McMorris, who knocked away Gibbs’ 2-point conversion pass with no time remaining that allowed the Saints to escape a 21-19 victory over the host Golden Bears in their CIF-SS Division 8 quarterfinal Friday night.

Santa Ana (10-2), the division’s No. 3 seed, gets the winner of the Kaiser-San Dimas quarterfinal in one of next week’s semifinals. Temecula Valley (6-6), meanwhile, gets the indelible image of McMorris ending a 8season in which they went from 0-10 in 2017 to the section quarterfinals in 2018 in improbable — yet fitting — fashion.

“I just saw the tight end come out and I tried getting there as fast as I could,” McMorris said. “And I did.”

“You know, it does leave you speechless,” TeGantvoort said.

Speaking of speechless, there was that Hail Mary. With the Golden Bears parked on the Santa Ana 35 with four seconds left, Gibbs rolled to his left and heaved a rainbow pass to the left side of the end zone that Pulsipher came down with as time ran out. Esposito said he practiced that play this week and “completed it once.”

Because of an earlier missed extra point, that necessitated going for two. Gibbs pulled off the pump-fake that froze the Saints defense — all except for McMorris, who leaped in front of a waiting Josh Hilton in the back of the end zone to knock the ball away.

“Only he could have made that play,” an awestruck Esposito said about McMorris, who followed up last week’s 305 yards against Fountain Valley with 275 Friday night. “It was a great call, it was a great thing and that guy made an incredible play. He made one earlier as well. He is the real deal.”

While the image of McMorris knocking the ball away will bedevil the Golden Bears, it will share space with Santa Ana’s rally from a 13-0 deficit —brought to the Golden Bears by an 8-yard run by Gibbs late in the first quarter and a 6-yard run by Dylan Johns midway through the third.

After McMorris’ touchdowns gave Santa Ana a 14-0 lead, the Saints made it 21-13 by using McMorris as a decoy. With the Golden Bears waiting to pounce on McMorris, Santa Ana quarterback Julian Gomez pulled the ball back and ran 18 yards for a touchdown.

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